Knitting-machine.



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' 1 PATENTED APR. 16., 19 A. RIBFFEL & E. ITTERSHAGBN.

KNITTING MAGHINE.- APPLIOATIOH n-nnn um: 2 .1903.

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No 850,786. PATEN'I'ED'" APR. 16, 1907. A. RIEFFBL & E. ITTERSHAGEN.

KNITTING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 24,1903.

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" Non 850;786. v PATENTED APR. 16, 1907 A. RIEPFEL & E. ITTERSHAGEN.

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fmveizrfaizr KNITTING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED .nnrn 24,1903.

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N0 850,786. I PATENTED APR. 16, 1907. A. RIEFPBL & E. ITTERSHAGEN. KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED Jn'im 24.1903,

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110150.786. I I I 1 P-ATENTED: APR-165.1907. A. RIEPFBL & E. ITTBRSHAGENQ KNITTING MACHINE APPLICATION FILED JUNE 24.1903. I

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WITNESSES 330 850,786. PATENTED APR. 16, 1907. A. RIEFFEL 6: E. ITTERSHAGEN.

. KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 24,1903.

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WITNESSES No 850,786. 4 PAT-ENTED APR. 16, 1907. A, RIEFFEL & B. ITTEESHAGENJ KNITTING MACHINE. PgLwATIon FILED Jun-n 24,1903.

WITNESSES UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUGUST RIEFFEL AND EDUARD ITTERSHAGEN, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENN- SYLVANIA; SAID ITTERSHAGEN AfJ'SIGNOR TO SAID RIEFFEL.

KNITTlNG-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 16,1907.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, Aneusr Rmrrnr. and EDUARI) l'r'rEnsnAGnN, citizens of the United States, and residents of thecity and county of Philadelphia,- State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improve ments in, Knitting-h'lachines, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in knitting-machines, and more particularly to improvements in double-plate or Lamb type knitting-machines; and the ob ect of our invention is to furnish certain improvements in the constru ion and operation of such machines, as more fully described hereinafter.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, and in which similar letters of reference indicate similar parts throughout the several views, Figure 1 is a plan of "a imitating-machine embodying our improvements; Fig. 2, a side elevation of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a plan, upon an enlarged scale,

' of part of the left end of Fig. 1; Fig. 4;, a plan of the top of one of the reciprocating needlecsin-carrying plates Figs. 5 and 6, side ole-- vations ol' cams for operating the movable needle-jtick-carrying plates; Fig. 7, a plan of the bottom of the reciprocating needle-cam carrying plates, showing the cams; Figs. 8 and 9, a section through the needle and needie-operatin Hack-carrying beds on line A A,

Fig. 10, the ormer showing the needle withdrawn and the latter the needle extended; Fig. 10, an enlarged plan showing parts of the needle andojack beds and means for-holding certain of the needles out of operative action; Fig. 11, a section of Fig. i on line B B; Fig. 12, a section of Fig. 4 on line C C; Fig' 13, side elevations of jacks with long and short heels; Fig. 14, a plan showing the machine arranged in inultiplethat is, a long plate or a number of short plates placed end to end, each section of which forms a sepa rate operative machine having its own yarncarriers, all of the sections or machines having one common cam-carrying plate; Fig. 15, an enlarged plan of part of frame, showing improved arrangement of cams for operating stop that operates thread-carriers; Fig. 16, a perspective view of cams for operatin threadwarrior-actuating stop Figs-17 and 1'8, sections of Fig. 15,the former on line D l), the latter on line E E. I 4

a are the needle-beds of a double-plate thread-carrier slides a and thread-carriers,

also of the usual construction. In Fig. 1 but one thread-carrier guide and thread-carrier is shown in order to promote clearness.

f are cam-carrying plates carried by frames j", which travel in suitable guides g on or forming part of guides (Z d.

h is an arch or connection joining the upper ends of frames f Butono platefis shownin Fig. 1. Either one or both of the cam-carrying plate'sj' carry a stud 'i, Fig. 1, to which one end of a ronncctinga'od is attached, the other end of this rod being carried by a crank 7c, which is carried by a shaft Z, which may be driven by pulleys? or otherwise from any convenient source of power. The revolutions 7 5 of shaft 1, ihrmigh the connections shown, cause the cam-plates and the parts connected therewith to reciprocate across the needlebeds a.

a are longitudinally-lnovablc jack-beds carrying needle-operating jacks 0, which are movable transversely of beds a and which are adapted to elevate the needles 0, as presently described.

The (aniwarrying plates f are furnished 8 with two sets of cams, one for operating the needles c directly, the other for operating the needles through the jacks 0. The needleoperating cams may be thrown into or out of action at *ill, and the same may be done 6 with the jack-operating rams, although when the latter are in use the cam or cams of the needle-opcrating set that serve to draw the needles inlet-he beds are used in conneciion with them, the jacks operating only to 5 elevate the needles. In Figs. 4, 7, 11, and 12 the cam-plates and details thereof are shown.

The needle elevating, rising, or central part of the cam, Fig. 7, is constructed of .an rec upper portion 1 and a lower portion 2. These parts are together or independently needle-butts. When in operative position or lowered, they engagethe heels of the nee- 1o 5 movable into and out of the plane of the will be only partially raised, forming a tuck instead of a full stitch. The lower part 2 of the rising cam is furnished with a passage 3, Fig. 7, the ends of which can be closed by latches 4. By opening one of these latches the needles will make a full stitch upon one side only upon one pass of the cam-plate, the needles passing through the passage 3 upon the opposite pass, making no stitch. When the opposite latch upon the other cain-plate is opened, this action will be reversed and the machine will knit a round. fabric. When both latches are opened on one cam-plate, the needles upon that side of the machine will remain idle and a flat fabric will be knitted by the other side of the machine.

5 are stitch-cams, which can be moved in or out as may be necessary to lengthen or shorten the stitch. The means for carrying these cams is shown in Fig. 12. They are well known and will not need detailed description. The upper part 1 of the rising cam is carried upon a stem 6, Figs-4 and 11, which passes up through the cam-plate f and the top of which carries a collar 7 which is furnished with a lug or tooth 8.

9 is a sleeve surrounding stud 6 below collar 7, furnished with a notch 10, intowhich tooth 8 can pass.

11, Fig. 4, is a thumb-piece or lever by means of which collar 9 may be turned to cause the notch 10 to engage or disengage tooth 8 to lower or lift stem 6 to place the part ,1 of the cam into or out of operative position. When cam 1 is lifted, the needles will form a tuck-stitch. \V'hen this cam is lowered, they will form a full stitch, as before stated.

The part 2 of the cam is carried upon a stem 12, passing through platef, which is furnished with a collar 13, carrying a tooth 14, adapted to engage a notch in a sleeve 16, which can be turned bya thumb-piece or lever 17, Figs. 4 and 11, to raise the stem and the piece 2 precisely the piece 1 is raised. The piece 2 being raised, the rising cam can be reciprocated back and forth without in any. way affecting or operating the needles. Before raising the piece 2 the latches 4 are thrown up against the part 5 and are held in this position until the piece 2 is lowered.

The jacks 0 are operated by cams carried by the lower end of the plate]. The needles are lifted for full and tuck stitches by 'the jacks passing over the entire'raising-cam or 'pver'only a portion of this cam, the top or point of the cam being adapted to be moved up, so that it will be out of contact with they heels on the jacks, or at least with certain of the heels that are shorter than others. Side. elevations of thejacks are shownin Fig. 13 the heel 18 upon one of the jacks being. only about one-half the height of the heel 18 upon the other. Oriel;

The jack rising cam is constructed m two piecesa movable piece 19, Figs. 7 and 11, and a stationary piece 20, shown in the same figures. The piece 19 is carried by a stem 21, Fig. 11, passing up through plate and carrying upon its top a collar 22, which is fur- 7o nished with down. ardly-projecting teeth 23, adapted when the cam is down to rest in corresponding notches 24 in the hub 25 of a ratchetwheel 26. The collar 22 is fast upon stem 21, and upon the rotation of the ratchetwheel the stem and the upper part 19 of the rising cam are lifted or lowered, depending upon whether the tooth rests upon thetop of the hub 25 or in the notch in the hub.

The ratchet-wheel 26, attached to hub 25 is rotated automatically by pawl 27, Fig. 4, which is carried by an arm 28, which is carried by and is longitudinally movable in a case 29, carried by the cam-plate f. The

arm 28 is adapted upon the movement of the 8 5 cam-plate to engage a cam or cams 30, Fig. 1, which are carried by the guides or frame d of the machine. One or more cams 30 may be used, placed upon the guides (1 so as to en gage arm 28 at or near the ends of the stroke of the cam-plate j. i/Vheii the arm '28 engages a cant30, it is raised, the pawl 27 engagmg one of the teeth of ratchet 26, rotating it one step. 31 is a spring l'or returning arm 28 and connected parts to their normal or lowered position. The pawl 27- is normally held in engagement with ratchet 26 by a spring, 32, Fig. 4, which permits the retraction of the pawl 27 upon the lowering of arm 28; but any other of the well-known arrangements for a mo forth across the needle-bed the arm'28 is en- IO 5 gaged and lifted by cams 30. Each time that it is lifted it :auses pawl 27 to engage andmove the ratchet-wheel one step, and as this wheel is rotated itceuses the notches 24 to engage or disengage the teeth 23. The en- 11o gagement or disengagement of the teeth 23 and notches 24 causes the upper part 19 of the ack rising cam to be raised or lowered,

and the number of times that the arm is lifted,

the amount that the ratchet 26 is turned, or

the number of notches 24- that the hub 25 carries determines the numberoi tunes that the part 19 will-be raised and lowered during.

a given movement ofithe cam-plate.

The jacks 0, operated bycam 19 20, work in a bed n1,-whi(".h-is furnished with grooves 35, which are sp'aced as are the grooves I) in the needle-bed (1 The upper ends of the jacks o are. adapted when operated by rising cam 19 20 to engage and elevate the needles c as would the'needle rising cam 1 2. It will 'he understood that when the jack-cam 19 20 is in operation that the needle-cam 1 2 is preferably out 01' action, and vice versa.

The heels 18 upon the jacks 0 are somcbl' 13o I I been elevated by com ll) 20.

one height and some of another. When the part 19 of the jack-raising cam is lowered, all of the heels of the jacks, both long and short ones, will pass completely over cam ll) 20, elevating the needles 0 to their full height; but when the part 19 is raised the jacks with long heels only will be engaged by both the parts 1.9 20 ot the rising-cam, the jacks with short heels being raised by the part 20 of the com only, passing across the top of this part and over th part 19 without engugingit. it will thus be'seen that by means of the long and short heeled jacks and the movable ce'rns and latches tuck-stitches can be made on. either round. or flat work by each reciprocation. of the com-plate.

36, Fig. 7, are the came for returning the jacks to their lowest positions after having The jacks are not attached to the needles, end these latter ore at all times lowered by the cores 5 ol' the upper set of comes,

' lhe g'aclroperating cam. 19 20 carries latches 3], either one or both of which may he owned. lfboth latches 37 he opened, the heels of the jeelcs will pass upon. both strokes of the complete through the passage 38, and the jacks will be inoperative. one of the latches be open, the jacks will upon one stroke of the complete be elevated and up onthe other stroke will pass through passage without being elevated. 37 are carried upon stems 39,'l ig.-4r-, which pass through slots 40 in cam carrying-platcf 41 ere nuts by means of which stems 39 may lee-locked at the upper or lower end of slots 40, as may be necessary to hold latches 37 o ened or closed. The latches 37 are pivotally secured at 42. i3 is a spring for normally holding one of the latches 37 open, and l a spring for holding the other latch nor mally closed. 'lhelatches may he used with or without these springs, or the operations of the springs may be reversed so to holdv the letch shown closed open and that shown 0 ion closed. "l l l'ien arranged as shown in t lB Cl1'fi-VVl'IlgS,l3llO jacks are operated upon one pass of the cams and are idle'upon the oppo site pass;;

Thejeclebeds 34 are longitudinally mov able with respect to the needle-beds o, and by a different arrangement of the jacks with I long and short heels by arranging: the cams 19 20 to make full, tuck, or miss stitches and by moving the jack-bed in or out, so that the jacks will at different times engage diil'erent needles, the machine will work dillerent pat-- terns, as may have been predetermined.

The jack-beds are operatedby arr automatic device, as follows: .45, Figs. 1 and 2, is a cam.v

upon the driving-shaft 1 ol the machine, whiehupon its revolution engages and moves an arm 46, 11 mn the far end of which is a awl 47, which engages with a 1':;-tchet-Whecl ll8, 'iurnished with a detent 4:9.to prevent a The latches backward movement. Upon'the shaft 50 of ratehetrwheel 4-8 are cams e1 52, l l 3, 5, and 6, which are adapted to engage one end of a lever 53, the other the other end oi this lever, which itself pivoted at its con-- tor 54. The ends of the lever 53 are attached one to the noedle-joch-carrying bed upon one side of the machine, the other to the needlejzwk-carrying bed upon the other side of the machine, and as the cams 5]. 52 alternately move the opposite ends of the lever 53 in and out the jock-beds are moved in and out with them; The device maybe adjusted so as to move the jack-beds one or more spaces.

moved one space, the same jacks will operate lirst one needle and thenthe next needle; ii two spaces, first one needle end then the next needle but one, and so on. The movement of the jack-beds is timed to take place when the cam phite is at the end. of its stroke and the cams out oi contact with the needles or jacks. lhe cams or jacks may )0 arranged to cause the needles upon each side o'l' the machine to knit the some or different pat terns. One pu k-lied nmy remain idle whilethe otherworks. 'lheiacleoperating cams may raise the needles pon one side of the machine and the need le-eams the needles upon the other side of the machine, or the needles upon. both sides may be al og'ierated by the jacks and jaclecems or all by the needle cams, thus permitting a great number of potl'erns to he made upon the 1IZZ-i(-l1lll0 by simply adjusting the operatiugmams or the throw of the jack-bod, or both. The jack-beds 34 are secured to the rocking lever 53 by screws '59. By removing these screws the jack-beds upon one or both sides of the machine may be thrown out oi action.

54, Figs. 1, 3, tl, l), and. i0, is a bifurcated slide carried in a groove in the upper part of the needle-beds a and at right angles to the grooves which carry the needles. ll certain of the needles are not required in knitting a fabric, they are moved up in their grooves in the needle-bed until their heels are opposite the roovo 55-; but )l'lOl' to this movin the I I h slide 54 has been witl'idrawn from the groove 55. The heels of all of the needles that are to be out of action being opp site the groove 55, the slide 54 is pushed hack in the slide, whereupon the heels oi the needles will pass up through the bifurcation in the slide, as shown in Fig. ll, and the needles thus engaged will be held in an inoperative position until the slide is withdrawn to release them.

The machine is adapted. for knitting either a straight or. a round, or-a wide, or a narrow fabric, or a combination ol these lalu'ics--l'or instance, the hand oi a glove and the lingers.

The cams unon one sidooi the machine may be errenee to knit al'aucy and upon the other sire it plain lehric, as might be required for the heel; and inside port of a glove.

. in feet, on shnost endless number of combi- &

nations may be made by using the several cams and movable j sch-carrying bed. If the needle and jack beds be made of great len th, as shown in skeleton in Fig. 14, and furnished with a number of thread-carriers e, a single pair of cam-carrying platesff may be reciprocated across the beds, and a number of articles can be knitted at one time.

In constructions of this nature it has heretofore been the practice to have stationary stops upon the tops of the side rails (Z d for limiting the travel of the thread carrier guides e, which slide upon the rails, and in ong machines the aggregate of these steps each being necessarily of some width restricts the production of the machine. In order to overcome this objection, we secure the thread-carrier guides to the rails (Z, so that they will slide freely thereon, but will have at the same time sufiicient friction to bring them to an immediate stop when the actuating power is relieved. Hence no permanent or separate stop is required and the slides can travel until they engage each other, thus increasing the capacity of the machine by the aggregate Width of the several permanent stops usually used.

The thread-carrier slide 0 is furnished with shoulders 57 on its inner side, one at each end, which are adapted to be engaged by a stop 58, Figs. 1, 4, 14, and 15, carried by the cam-plate f, this stop being pivoted in the usual manner to the cam-plate and being adapted to engage one of the shoulders 57 upon one stroke of the cam-plate and theother shoulder upon the other stroke. 56 are cams secured upon the inside of the rails (Z ,in such a manner that the thread-carriers can pass without engaging them, but which as the cam-plates f pass them engage and lift the stop 58 clear of the shoulders 57 permitting the thread-carrier which it has been driving to come to rest. The driven threadcarrier (represented by dotted lines in Fig. 15) engages or almost engages the one next to it, and the cam 56 is so arranged that the stop 58 is carried onto this next thread-carrier, which it engages and moves along as it did the first. llpon the reverse motion of the cam-plate the action of these several I parts is repeated.

The cam-plates f are ren'iovably carried by the 'l r aniesf. This construction is particularl y valuable in the form of machine shown in Fig. l, for should any accident happen which would cause the cam-plate or its carrying-trame to stick or jam at any point of its travel the cause of the trouble maybe found by simply removing the cam-plate f from the frame f which. gives free access to the needles and jacks beneath the cam-plate without the necessity of further dismantling the machine. 1

Having thus described our invention, we

claim as new'and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In a knitting-machine, in combination, a needle-bed, a movable jack-bed, needles said jack-bed, a cam-carrying plate adapted to be reciprocated across said needle and jack beds, and two sets of cams carried by said cam plate one set adapted to operate said needles and the other said jacks;

2. In a knitting-machine, "in combination, a needle-bed, a movable jackbed, needles carried by said needle-bed, jacks carried by said jack-bed, a cam-carrying plate adapted to be reci rocated across said -needle-bed, two sets 0' cams carried by said cam-carrying plate, one set adapted to operate the use dles directly, the other to operate the needles through the jacks, and means whereby either or both sets of cams may be thrown into or out of operative action.

3. In a knitting-machine, in combination, a bed one portion of which is stationary and the other movable, needles carried by one portion of said bed, jacks carried by the other portion of said bed, means for actuating said needles directly and means for actuating said needles through said jacks.

4. The combination in a knitting-machine of a horizontal rising. cam formed in two pieces, the upper part, or apex, of which is vertically movable in relation to the lower part or base, means for automatically lifting and for automatically lowering the movable part of said cam at predetermined intervals, needles, jacks operated by said raising-cam, adapted to engage and lift said needles, cams for returning said jacks to their lowered positions and stitch-cams adapted to return said needles to their lowered positions. j

5. In a knitting-machine, in combination, a horizontal rising cam formed in two pieces, the upper part, or apex, of which is verticallymovable in relation to the lower part or base, a stem upon whichthc movable part of said cam is carried, a ratchet-wheel surrounding said stem, a collar upon said stein, said wheel and collar carrying one a notch and the other a tooth, a pawl adapted to engage and rotate said ratchet-wheel, a stop carried by the stationary frame of the machine for actuating said pawl, jacks with heels of unequal lengths adapted to be raised by said cam, needles adapted to be engaged and raised by said jacks, cams for returning said. jacks to their lowered positions,' and stitch-cams for returning said needles to their lowe'i'ed.posi-- tions. "s

6. In a knitting-machine, in combination, a needle-bed and a jack-bed, the latter of, which is lengthwise movable in relation to the. former, needles and jacks carried by said jacks, a pivoted lever the free end of which is carried by said needle-bed, jacks carried bybeds, cams for operating said needles and.

connected to the movable bed, a cam adapted to rock said lever, and means for rotating said cam. Y

- 7. In a knitting-machine in combination, a needle-bed and a .jack-bcd the latter of which is movable-lengthwise in relation to the formen needles and jacks carried by said beds, a set of cams for operating said needles, a set of carnsfor operating said jacks,

means for carrying and means for reciprocating said cams, means whereby either set of said cams may be thrown into or out of operative action, a pivoted lever the free end of which is connected to the movable bed, a cam adapted to engage and rock said lever, a shaft upon which said cam is carried, a ratchet-wheel upon said shaft, a pawl engaging said ratchet-wheel, an arm connected with said pawl, a cam upon the driving-shaft of the machine for operating said arm, and said driving-shaft.

' 8. In a double plate, or pyramid, knittingmachine, in combination, oppositely-inclined plates each of whichkcom rises a stationary needlc-bed and a' ac -be beneath said needle-bed, which is lengthwise movable in re:

- lation to said noodle-bed, needlcscarried by said ncedlc-l'x d, jaizkscarri'edi by said jackbed, cams for operating said needles and jacks, a pivoted lever the free ends of which 39- are adapted to be attached one to one jackfg} bed, the other to the other jack-bed, and

means for rocking said lever a predetermined distance.

9. The combination with the. needle-bed 35 of a knitting machine, ofa bifurcated slide adapted to hold certain, or all, of the needles out of operative contact with the needle-ac tuatin'g mechanism.

10.' In a knitting-machine,in' combination, 40

a needle'bed, a jack-bed movable lengthwise of said needle-bed, needles carried by said needle-bed, jacks having heels of unequal lengths carried by said jack-bed, means substantially as set forth for elevating said jacks 45- to cause said needles to make a full or a tuck:

vstitch, cams for returning said needles and 

